Big project done. Check it out

Alan Gardner June 9, 2009 1 minute 11 comments

Apologies up front for departing from the normal cartooning topics. For the last several months I’ve been busy working on a major web project that has consumed much of my “blogging time” – especially in the last couple of months. Yesterday we launched several websites (more on that later) and I anticipate returning to a normal blogging schedule. Thank you all for your patience.

For those interested, my day job is working for a company that specializes in providing eGovernment solutions (think registering your car, drivers license, or business license over the web). For the last 11 months we’ve been working on a major rework/redesign of Utah.gov (official website for Utah). When we set out to redo the portal we knew had to push the concept of what a government website could look like and function. We also knew the time was right to begin using some technologies that were commonplace in the private sector that are not used extensively on government sites. This was also the first time we had ever launched a product coinciding with a social media blitz which proved to be effective in spreading the word out and soliciting feedback.

You can see some of the new websites we unveiled yesterday:

Utah.gov – the website and gateway to Utah’s official portal
Utah.gov Connections – Access to our newly launched iPhone apps, widgets, official flickr, twitter accounts and multimedia portal
Data Portal – a growing source of public raw data that citizens can “utilize and merge it in new and innovative ways”
Mobile version of Utah.gov for smart devices (to view, simply go to utah.gov with your Blackberry, iPhone, etc.)
In your Area – the first use of GeoIP tagging to push local information relevant to the citizen’s hometown
Blogs – an aggregate of 27 blogs, over 100 Twitter written by Utah elected officials and agencies

Previously we launched a Transparency website that allows citizens to drill down into each agency’s funding and spending – right down to the dollar. Before that, a Public Meeting Notice site that requires all government entities at all levels, from the biggest to smallest, to post their meetings and agendas so that the public can be notified when a topic or meeting of interest will be held. We’re doing some groundbreaking things here in Utah and I’m proud to be apart of it.

Thanks again for your patience. Blogging resumes in earnest today.

Alan

Comments ¹¹

Anne Hambrock

What a huge and important project, Alan. Congratulations!

David Fletcher

Great job Alan! You were incredible throughout this project and the end result reflects that. Thanks for all the effort you put into it.

Lucas Turnbloom

Wow, Alan. The Utah.gov site looks great!

Aaron Taylor

You really have a day job? I always see you wandering around downtown SLC, but I just figured you were, you know…wandering. Just kidding — great work!

Jason Nocera

utah.gov looks very impressive. Great job!

Norm Feuti

Gorgeous website, Alan. Nice work!

Tom Gammill

Love the slide show at the top of Utah.gov. I’m going to show it to my family and it’ll count as our summer vacation.

Howard Tayler

Congratulations, Alan!

Alan Gardner (admin)

Thanks all. It’s a big relief to have it out the door. Looking forward to a more peaceful summer.

JD Crowe

Wow…good to see real work gettin’ done out there.
Congrats, Alan.
Jd

Mike Cope

Well done, Alan! For a government website, it’s extremely warm and welcoming. The interface layout and navigation is wonderful from top to bottom. I really like the animated banner with icon overlays — very intuitive!!

One minor design tweak suggestion … The glow effect around the top banner has an obvious line where the graphic ends when viewed on a widescreen monitor.

But overall, I’m sure this will garner even more awards for you!!

Comments are closed.